First LEED Platinum building in Canada

The TELUS company is funding a 1 million sq ft project in downtown Vancouver that will include office space and residential units.

Canadian telecommunications company TELUS announced its plans to build a U.S. Green Building Council LEED Platinum-rated headquarters in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia. The complex will be the first USGBC LEED Platinum project in Canada.

The project, named TELUS Garden, will cost $750 million and comprise a 22-story office tower with 500,000 sq ft of office space and 500 residential units. It will feature 10,000 sq ft of green roofs providing organic produce for local restaurants, two elevated roof forests, artwork from British Columbia, programmable LED lighting that will project colored images, and media walls where cultural events (such as symphony concerts) can be broadcast to the public.

TELUS has partnered with Westbank Development Corp to lead the project, and has engaged Henriquez Partners as the architect that is designing the development. TELUS buildings have achieved USGBC LEED gold and silver ratings in the past.

"The fact that TELUS is choosing to build a new national headquarters in Vancouver is a great vote of confidence in our local economy," said Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson. "Their proposal to build to LEED Platinum is extremely ambitious and sends a signal that in Vancouver, going green is good for business and the environment."

TELUS has 15,000 team members and retirees in the province, and is metro Vancouver's largest private sector employer. Approximately 1,000 TELUS team members will work in the company's new national headquarters once it is complete.